Trapped
by BettyBest2
Summary: A mysterious warlock threatens to cast the world into utter devastation, forcing the Sins to act at their Captain's command: Split up and eliminate the threat. Elizabeth is distraught at the idea of Meliodas going at it alone and convinces the demon to take her along. The two then set out on a journey that very well may be their last.


**I started this before Chapter 223 was released so the reveals in that chapter kind of left me uncertain of how to proceed at first. But talking to the amazing writer, BanconWaffle2016, brought up coping mechanisms to deal with it and so I carried on.**

 **Lickitysplit was truly amazing for reading this for me and giving me such an amazing response to it. I hope that you all can love this as much as her.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

* * *

 **-Trapped-  
**

A warlock the likes of which the Sins hadn't encountered before had begun to wreak havoc across the lands. One day all was on the mend. The Ten Commandments were defeated, the Kingdoms were regaining their strength, and the Sins had found themselves once again as Holy Knights of the Kingdom of Liones. The next, however, found illness latching onto those whom had lead wholesome lives, thievery and murder spreading like wildfire, the earth seemed to wilt and twist onto itself as everything good and virtuous in everyone threatened to fade away. Even Lady Merlin had been unable to counteract the magic being spun across the people of Britannia, though she was able to discern that they were curses of the highest caliber and the most efficient way to dispel them were to find the source and extinguish it.

Meliodas had been quick to form a command: The Sins were to split up into groups and take out the man hell bent on razing the lands.

Elizabeth feels her lip sting in agony between her teeth, a strip of blood trailing into her mouth from the force of her grip. She stands anxiously at their bedside in the Boar Hat, watching, while a band slowly constricts around her heart, as he pulls on his intricate armor, piece by piece. A gloom stuffs the room, pouring in through the window panes as it has since the warlock began his reign of terror. The sun hasn't quite shone its hopeful rays since. It makes watching Meliodas prepare to journey out to face the man that much harder on her. The constricting around her heart is simply unbearable.

He'd made it clear that Diane and King, Merlin and Escanor, and Gowther and Ban were to spread out and search the most affected areas while he _alone_ did the same. Alone.

Elizabeth places a quivering hand over her chest and wonders if she's forgotten how to breathe, the reason why she feels so lightheaded. "Meliodas—"

"Don't." He cuts her off swiftly while securing the last piece of armor to his person. He turns to face her and the looks she finds in his emerald eyes is firm, yet raw; a desperate sort of plea he hopes she heeds. "I already know what you're going to say and you're not coming with me."

Her hands fall to her sides, curling in on themselves as she takes two quick steps towards him. Her cerulean and orange gaze ripple with emotion just as fiercely if not more so than his. "I watched you die once. I won't let that happen again."

Something flashes in his stare too quick for her to take in before his expression goes flat resembling the sheets they use to shield the dead. The look causes her insides to quake and she doesn't realize her balance is in question until the cool metal over his hand slides under hers, steadying her. "I thought this was over. I thought I'd finally saved you and that…" She watches with a trembling in her lips as a sorrow tugs his mouth up a fraction in the most fragile smile she's been forced to witness. She knows it'll only take so little to break him. "But there's danger hiding everywhere in the shadows, Elizabeth, and it's _my_ job to protect you from it. Which is why I want you to stay here with Hawk, where the Holy Knights are."

Her eyebrows lower and her lips thin making the cut there sting. "But I'm safest with _you._ And I've traveled with you and the Sins for so long now. I can handle this too, Meliodas. You might need me to heal you." She lifts a hand to cup the side of his face when a frown begins to twist his face into displeasure. "You know my powers can aid you as well. Just let me do this with you."

The struggle is apparent in his eyes, what's right and what's wrong here? But she is right. She was by their side through it all. She'd even traveled on her own, running the Boar Hat tavern with Hawk when hope was a feeble little thing she'd striven to foster in the hearts of all she came in contact with. So the fear and distress building and spreading from his expression in cool wisps is snuffed out with a single resigned nod of his head. "Fine then. You should change into something more suitable. As much as I love that uniform on you, you're going to need something a lot more durable." The commanding tone washes over her in an instant as he lets her hand fall from his.

The flood of relief of his agreeing has her limbs surging with jitters, but there's also a tinge of elation that has her falling against the metal encasing him, her nose bumping his lightly as she hesitantly brings their lips together. Her insides feel as if their being overrun with a bubbly sensation the more she presses into their sweet kiss. It's a gentle thrum throughout her, soothing her heart as Meliodas carefully sweeps her breath away. Their lips part gradually letting her savor the last of him heady sigh. "Thank you." She peers into his eyes just as bright and enraptured as her own.

~.~.~

Her legs are wracked with frigid wisps clamoring to seep into her bones, the cavern she and Meliodas are treading carefully through being far icier than she imagined a place like it to be. She'd gone with the armor given to her at the end of her training in Ishtar despite the heavy memories it carries. Elizabeth and her demon savior had traveled several days to find this place hidden a ways from any populated area; the opening at the base of the mountain grown over by aged foliage would easily have been missed had Meliodas not sensed something sinister dripping over the place. He'd told her with a grim edge to his mouth that he believed the place to be where the warlock has been holed up. Elizabeth's belief in Meliodas runs a deep path through her soul, so his certainty is hers.

The cave is filled with stalagmites and stalactites, the steady drip of water from the latter making their steps echo for seconds at a time each time a puddle is disturbed. Everything seems entirely natural from Elizabeth's careful perusal, except for the line of torches on either side of their path, throwing flickering lights and shadows across stone. She turns to see Meliodas gazing ahead with absolute concentration shaping his stony expression. "Do you think he's waiting somewhere ahead?" She makes her voice hushed and delicate, though it still seems to bounce off the rocks surrounding them ominously.

His eyebrows twitch lower. "I don't know. Something's felt off since we walked into this place. It's like everything's distorted." The flames reflected in his dark eyes sears through her being trapping here in his smoldering hold. "Stay next to me. Things could get ugly."

She gives a curt nod suddenly a lot less frosty than before as she looks ahead. If Meliodas is this on edge, then… She shakes her head to clear away the wayward thought and grips her hands at her sides. They'll make it through this just fine. Blue eyes land on him once more as she nods to herself slightly, seeing blond hair glow gently in the firelight almost reminiscent of a late night sat before the window in their room not too long ago.

Elizabeth stares down feeling silver locks cascading around her face, unsure of why such a memory comes to her at a time like this. But the image is clear as day before her eyes, the two of them sitting side by side, a little drowsy as their eyes drifted across the stardust in the sky, comfortable, and safe. It had been so natural turning to Meliodas and finding him meeting her halfway. That first kiss was a natural progression that she hasn't regretted and has left her feeling the happiest she's ever been.

She fails to notice Meliodas halt in his tracks until his arm extends across her torso holding her back. Elizabeth jerks her head up in alarm, wondering what she might have missed. Torches still line each side of the cave. Jagged protrusions from the roof and the ground don't look any different. Stale water dotted here and there. She looks frantically for something _different_ something off, that when her eyes realize what is wrong Meliodas is already winding tight, prepared to spring more recklessly than a cornered beast.

The torches come full circle. There's nothing but a rocky wall to mock their presence.

" _Elizabeth! Turn around! RUN! It's a—"_ The thunderous cries of her love wrought with pure desperation vibrate through her body stopping her heart short as she tries to get her body to _move_. She can see the wild look in his wide eyes, the terror reaping his soul just as a deafening crack rips through the area bouncing through their ears with finality. She doesn't have time to move as she notices the first stone smash from the ceiling to the ground throwing up dust for her to choke upon, the first of hundreds to come.

Meliodas doesn't even think. He _reacts._ She feels her body being flung forward towards the dead end, away from the collapsing of earth behind her the likes of which rivals an attack Diane would call her own. She shrieks as she connects with the ground. A stabbing pain shoots through her left palm as panic renders her woozy, her eardrums agonizingly tender from the roar of rocks clashing. A sound tears through the air, different than the others not a moment later. It pierces her heart to hear Meliodas cry out as the torches flicker blindingly an instant. Then his body is falling over hers as a shield despite it all. Though it's not necessarily needed. The rumbles and impacts cease. The flames blow out, all but one.

One breath hesitantly fills her lungs. Then two. Meliodas shifts off of her with a barely imperceptible groan, his hands going around the sides of her arms to help pull her up after. Then the cool metal around his palms are sweeping up the curve of her arms, clutching her cheeks tenderly as her hair hangs messily around her face. The worry is so palpable in his demeanor, the grit of his teeth, the wide sweep of his eyes over her figure as he tries to breathe himself makes her realize just how breathless with fear she actually is, and not for herself. "Are you alright? Elizabeth, tell me, _please_. I—damn it this is my fault."

She opens her mouth to affirm her health when her left palm flinches slightly making her cringe. Meliodas is perceptive in noticing, narrowing his eyes, daring her to lie. "I'm fine… I just cut my palm I think."

The faint light in the closed off area flickers on his visage and the gleam of his armor. It's then she sees that nothing appears cracked or broken, so why had he screamed before? He rises and takes her good hand walking backwards a step before practically collapsing atop of a stone, his back pressed against the wall as his mouth twists into a grimace. His hold on her hand is unfailable, making it simple for her to descend to his side and press for answers just as persistently as he. "What's wrong?" Her voice is low and stern.

Even in the dim lighting she can tell that his eyes shift ever so slightly the way they do when he's hiding something. "Nothing. Just a sprained ankle." The light airiness to his voice that usually conceals his falsehood is absent instead giving way to a soft murmur that makes her pull back the slightest in her heart speeding in sudden nerves. _'He's hiding something. But what?'_ She watches as he begins to remove pieces of his armor, revealing his hands, the red material over his arms, then finally the thin black material over his legs, though he leaves his chest piece in place. Easily he rips off a pant leg all the way up to his knee then retakes her hand displaying just how deep the gash in her palm truly is as she twitches in agitation.

It surprises her how neatly he wraps her wound covering up the ghastly blood spilling over her flesh in even rolls of the material in his hand. She's so used to using her powers to heal all the wounds of her friends and loved ones by now that she hadn't really realized that Meliodas could dress wounds as efficiently as a nurse. A final tug on the knot is given before he lifts her hand and tenderly places his lips at the base of her palm. Tingles burn so viciously beneath her skin she nearly forgets her next breath. She finds her fingers carding through his hair sweetly. "D-don't worry so much. Just let me heal you and we can start working our way out of here, alright?" She croons reassuringly when his breath slides unsteadily across her skin.

His eyes merely focus on her palm. The nerves circling her heart from before abruptly cause her gut to sink in twists and turns. "Elizabeth, this was a trap. Our powers have been suppressed or drained or _something_. I can't do anything." He finally returns her gaze and it's with utter heartbreak that she realizes the green of his eyes are dull, empty, a broken shell of the unstoppable force she loses her breath under every time. Meliodas is gazing at her as if his impenetrable pillar of hope melted before his eyes dissolving into a vortex forever lost. "I failed you. I should never have taken you with me, Elizabeth."

No. _No._ She refuse to believe the cracked tone of his voice. Elizabeth uses their connected hand hold and searches inward for the swirling sphere of wispy warmth expecting it to spill outwards in a magnificent surge like always. All she feels is a cold vacuum where crackling life once was. Her eyelids flicker momentarily as she scrambles for something else, something to take that devastated look off of his face. "You… Someone will find us. The Sins _will_ find us. We can hold out until then."

Just a tired smile attempts to lift the grief that weighs him down. "Elizabeth… there's only so much air here. It'll only be a matter of time. They won't realize something's wrong until we don't show up home in a few days." He cradles her hand gently between his, bowing his head over it just as his face twists into something she can't bear to see. _"I'm so sorry."_

She stare blankly ahead for a while, taking in this information, seeing everything that he explained with excruciating clarity. They won't make it through this time. She can even see that the flame is getting dimmer just the slightest as the air diminishes. But… at least… at least they're together for this. His hand wrapped around hers makes the reality of their demise a weightless affair even if she has to swallow back tears wishing it was only _her_ and not Meliodas whose life had to end this way. "Do you think I would have been happy?" She sniffles just a bit when the burn of her tears takes a while longer to fade away. "Do you really think that I would have been okay with staying back and learning afterwards that you had died of suffocation while I was sitting around _waiting_? I would rather be here with you."

This seems to wipe away his crumbled state as outrage comes clawing to the surface pulling down his eyebrows and the edges of his mouth. "You have a long life to live, Elizabeth. I've lived dozens of lifetimes! Don't ever wish to shorten yours for my sake."

They stare off after the harsh grind of his voice fades into the tight perimeter of the room.

She only eases up when she notices the flare of the torch flicker; a reminder. "I'm sorry, Meliodas. I'm just as upset over this as you. But we shouldn't argue over this. Not right now."

His expression smooths as he lets go of a heavy breath. "You're right. I want you to be happy. As happy as I can make you right now anyway."

Even now, in the face of death, an hour or so until their breaths cease to fill their lungs, Meliodas still manages to cause a thrill of wing flaps to go off in her belly and her cheeks to heat in uncontrollable affection. She places her hand not in his on top of his knee making sure she's turned towards him on the rock they've claimed as their final seat. "Well for starters you can tell me how you learned to dress a wound so well." A story of his past. Those are rare and far in between.

His face twinges in a way that appears close to clamming up, but then his shoulders relax and his mouth opens to reveal the smooth timbre she's grown so fond off. "It was a long while ago. I was working as a knight for a small town and... there was this nurse who was the light of the village. Everyone knew her. She was incredibly kind, visiting the children, the elderly, families, and even us knights. But she was also tough when it came to her patients." He smirks, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I should know having been one of them at a time. She was a no nonsense type of woman. She taught me everything I know about cleaning up wounds." His thumbs brush back and forth across her hand spiking a shiver down her spine. And the way he gazes in her eyes with a smile a twisted mix of saddened and fondness makes her shift with uncertainty.

"Do you miss her?" _Is she what Liz once was to you? What I maybe am to you now?_

"A bit. But at the same time that was the past. We're here now, Elizabeth." It's said quietly and almost mysteriously before he shuts his eyes and leans his head back against the stone, his breathing coming out a little harsher. From there she can see a bit of sweat gathered at his neck, the flickering flames gleaming off of it and helping her register just how arid it's gotten in the cave. The lack of inflowing air causing the temperature to creep up almost unnoticed.

Her head tilts downwards towards where her hand still rests on his knee feeling a trickle of moisture descend down her temple in doing so. Meliodas has had lovers, she can't blind herself to that. But for he, for whatever reason, chose _her_ to be with. The words he spoke to her when she was lying in death's bed still ring loud and clear in her ears.

 _If you were to disappear from my life, I would have no reason to live. So please, live for me._

She's felt his devotion more surely time and time again each time he goes out of his way to try and spare her life, even when it was her intention to throw it away for the sake of others, the sake of his. Elizabeth knows that he's a man who loves deeply, utterly, putting his entire being into the emotion until it tears him up from the inside out when the inevitable happens. That devotion, that _love_ , she's certain belongs to her this time and she returns it just as strongly, just as fiercely as the demon. And yet she has not told him. He has not told her. This might be the last chance they get. The twisting flame upon the wall tells her this.

 _The last chance._

The three words whirl in her mind for several moments spinning her world out from beneath her as she gazes at his figure leaning against the stonewall. The last chance for them. Her heart pounds and jolts making her hands shake on his knee and in between his hold. "Meliodas?"

His eyes blink open and fix right on her. She'd swear he was peering right at her flustered soul. "Yeah?"

Her palm seeks his cheek, her fingers grazing the skin their sluggishly before dipping just a bit in his hair. Then she takes the plunge as he's staring at her with round eyes she practically falls into. "I love you." A soft breath to allow the relief of those words to ease her tension. "I have for so long now. Would it be crazy if I told you I felt drawn to you since I woke to you groping me that first time? I just thought it was foolish to feel such a connection so swiftly."

She'd worried she had begun to ramble and ruin the depth of her confession, but a smile bright and lopsided, a bit euphoric in his eyes, takes over his face lifting her to heights the inevitable lack of oxygen will fail to take her. "I'd be worried if you didn't, 'cause I felt it too. I've loved you for so long, Elizabeth." He presses passionately as a hand raises to cover the back of hers over his cheek. "I'm yours, Elizabeth."

She leans closer as her heart flutters wildly against her ribs, feeling words spill without thought. "Make me _yours_ , Meliodas."

His eyes widen and this close she can see every fleck of green in his eyes, utterly entrancing. She speeds on before he can even breathe his protest. "We only have so much time. Make me yours while you still can."

His eyes dart between hers seriously. "Elizabeth…"

 _"_ _Please."_

A short nod from him. Then his hand lets her injured one go. Elizabeth's limbs are taught with anxiousness, her heart jumping so fast it may as well be a buzz. She spreads a leg over his, settling into his lap, nearly melting around him at the intense pull that surges between them. His hand goes up to carefully cup her cheek as his eyes become lidded focusing keenly on her eyes then her lips. "Remember the promise I made to you, okay?" The husky words fog her mind and spark like lightning as she nearly tears up. But then he's pushing forward, capturing her lips, stroking her mouth with such passion all of her thoughts fades away into a budding sense of pleasure that she clings to desperately in her final moments with Meliodas.

~.~.~

"Come on damn it! It could be too late already!" Howzer shouts as Gilthunder beside him begins to charge up an attack to combine with the Grand Master's. The two stand outside of a mountain whose entrance is completely barricaded by stones too dense to remove by normal means not that they have time to waste. They'd been informed by King Baltra when the elder had once of his Visions of the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Third Princess being trapped in this location by the warlock with no chance of escape on their own. If any time was squandered death would surely follow.

"Alright, Howzer!" Energy begins to spark, then sear through the air dancing against their flesh and burning their images in electric blue when his power wraps powerful and deadly around his sword.

Howzer is quick to follow with his deadly wind twisting and shaping it to his will as it throws their hair all about in disarray. Howzer uses the horizontal twister he'd created to begin cutting through the rocks in his path while Gilthunder charges in behind him a beacon of light scattering across the walls. They move as swiftly as they can while being wary of possible bodies in their path.

Howzer can still feel the oily cling of magic over the place despite the trap having been triggered. It sends his blood boiling that the warlock attacking thousands dared to try and remove two of Britannia's embodiment of hope. The rage burns hot and fast through his muscles and he's certain Gilthunder behind him feels the same. They'll have revenge on this hot shot. But first they need to save their friends.

His control on his power is precise, so he notices when there's a sudden absence of an obstacle in his path cause him to halt in place in an instant and allow the twister to dissipate. Gilthunder is swift to follow, though keeps his lightning wrapping around his blade. Purple eyes peer into the highlighted cave ahead as Gilthunder comes to stand at his side. His hand nearly loses its grip at the image painted grimly before him.

It's easy from the partially undressed couple what happened between the two. Elizabeth's figure is draped over Meliodas', cradled in his lap as if sleep claimed her before she could truly be ready for it. Meliodas, even for how still he appears, how peaceful he should look with his love in his arms, has regret etched into his features. Dried tears rimming his eyes.

The Grand Master runs to them as Gilthunder gives a strangled shout. He peels off the metal surrounding his hands quickly grabbing Elizabeth up to first feel for a pulse. His own heart stops when he doesn't feel anything for a few moments against her throat. He's about to pull his fingers back, a sick feeling of failure filling his stomach when something reaches out to him at the last moment. He lets out a rush of breath then quickly leans his ear down to her mouth. Faint shallow breath tickles his ear. He leans up with an ecstatic smile ready to tell Gilthunder, when he notices the tears brimming his best friend's eyes.

The pinkette is carefully leaning Meliodas' body against his, now revealing the dire amount of blood staining the wall that was behind him. "It doesn't look like anything penetrated his skin, so it was probably a magical attack or curse even. There's no pulse, Howzer, or breath filling his lungs. He's already growing cold." The tears fall down his friend's cheeks as he continues to speak solemnly and it's the hardest thing Howzer has had to endure. "The curse was broken with the defeat of the Ten Commandments. He can't be brought back."

The second will be telling Elizabeth this news.

~.~.~

Months pass. The devastation the lands face with the loss of Meliodas as Captain of the Sins is immense. But a saying goes that things can only get better once you've hit rock bottom. They rebound in honor of their valiant Captain and Merlin is able to outsmart the warlock ensnaring him in a death match the likes of which he'd never seen. Though Merlin did most of the heavy lifting, the Sins aided as best as they could and Ban was sure to land the finishing blow, snatching the creature's heart straight from his chest and crushing it between his fingers. Elizabeth was told all of this, had been reassured Meliodas' death was avenged. It helped take the edge off the pain she carried in place of her heart a smidgen.

But what helps the most is gazing into innocent emerald eyes in the face of a sweet baby girl whose hair is a fair blonde, almost silver. Morgana, born nine months after Meliodas' death, is what gives her the most peace, because she knows her daughter was created in the heat of love, a final gift to Elizabeth from her demon.

She tickles fingers lightly over Morgana's clothed tummy now as she gazes over her crib soothed by the way she giggles, content with the flare of black that takes over the baby's eyes for a brief moment, knowing that Meliodas lives on in a way through her. A knock sounds on her door startling her slightly before she relaxes and coos sweetly down in the crib. It's most likely Margaret or Veronica checking up on the two as always. Elizabeth almost huffs. She's been a mother for a few months now, she can handle a morning alone without any extra hands, though she greatly appreciates her family's insistence in helping her through this.

"Come in."

The door opens and she expects to hear the jaunty greeting of Veronica or the calm voice of Margaret. But there's nothing except the shutting of the door. Footsteps approaching her from behind. Her wariness towards danger attempting to slink in and steal _another_ pivotal facet of her life nearly has her spinning around with deadly sparks of golden encircling her hands. But before she can even make a move, arms loop around her waist pulling her to a chest warm with seven hearts, and a voice she only hears in her dreams swells in her ears causing an instant drip of elated tears to fall down her cheeks.

 _"_ _I told you I'd always come back to you alive, didn't I?"_


End file.
